List of tasks
* literature search and reading
* literature review and web research for other sources including relevant secondary research data
* define scope of local government comms and social media
* set up wiki to use as central public repository for project data and to use to write sections of the final report
Survey of communicators:
—* set up survey (eg Surveymonkey or similar site)
* source list/s of all local government communications managers
* email out (include offer of research findings as incentive)
* chase email
* close survey and — analyse results
Outline plan
- w/c 2/6 - complete literature review and submit to Kevin for feedback, identify case studies and contact for interview
- w/c 9/6 - write methodology section, start data analysis
- w/c 16/6 - interviews, continue data analysis, revisions to literature review
- w/c 23/6 - interviews, continue data analysis
- w/c 30/6 - write up interviews, write analysis section based on survey data
- w/c 7/7 - write up interviews, write analysis section based on survey data
- w/c 14/7 - write conclusions, appendices
- w/c 21/7 - final formatting, proof reading etc
- w/c 28/7 no tasks - contingency as doc is due in at end of this week
Case studies:
* identify long list of case studies of how social media has been used so far (local government UK and abroad)
* shortlist most relevant case studies (3-4)
* set up telephone interviews with shortlisted case study contacts
* write interview guides
* conduct interviews (recorded)
* transcribe interviews
* analyse and extract key information from case studies
Specialist interviews:
* identify key interviewees who can add useful perspective/challenge to my research – to ensure that the outcomes from my project take account of latest thinking in social media, not just from a local government perspective - such interviewees could be leading bloggers, social media exponents in the private sector or industry analysts
* set up telephone interviews
* write interview guides
* conduct interviews (recorded)
* transcribe interviews
* analyse and extract key information
Methodology
My methodology comprises a combination of literature review, primary research (questionnaire, case studies) and secondary research (reviewing existing research and white papers on this topic).
A key limitation of this approach is that it risks being focused too internally on existing practice, thus failing to identify future roles for social media in local government communications. However this limitation can be mitigated through primary research with specialist interviewees who can help provide external insight.
The survey of local government communications managers, looking at existing practice and attitudes to the topic will be limited by the response rate achieved. There are approximately 500 councils and a number of existing mailing lists that can be used to email contacts at these councils, but assuming a 10% response rate the sample size will be relatively small. This limitation will be reduced through incentivising response (offering to share research findings) and attempting to reach this group through multiple routes (eg CIPR LG group, LGA, IdEA) and deduping responses by email address.
The choice of case studies risks biasing the outcomes from the report as I intend to only consider a small number of case studies. However I will use these to demonstrate and expand on key points supporting selected recommendations made, rather than to justify all the recommendations made in the project.